I just got two copies of a nasty little scam e-mail purporting to come from PayPal. It explains that "your account is about to be expired in five days" unless you download and run the attached application and give it your personal information.

Yeah, right.

First of all, the stupid downloadable application probably would not even run on my Mac. (Not that I'm going to try it.) Second, who sends out a downloadable app to verify account info? Third, the stupid piece of mail doesn't even look like a real piece of PayPal mail, much less read like one. (Would PayPal send out an e-mail with the subject line "IMPORTANT!!"? Without the PayPal logo? Never mind that anyone who writes "your account is about to be expired in five days" deserves to be spanked with the corporate style guide.)

I suppose I ought to be relieved that these guys are incompetent. I've seen much more convincing scam e-mail purporting to be from PayPal.

I forwarded the e-mail to the appropriate department at PayPal. Perhaps they can nail these guys.

Anyway, folks, do be careful if you get any odd e-mails from PayPal or other online sites you do business with asking for personal info. Anything that comes with an executable application attached is almost certainly bogus, but pay close attention to any links you click or websites you log into as well. If you're in any doubt, contact the company in question and ask.

This has been a public service announcement from Entia Multiplicanda. And now back to work!